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States protect their carnival ride inspectors from negligence accusations

By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press
Published: April 1, 2018, 8:42pm

TOLEDO, Ohio — Just hours before a rusted steel arm snapped on a carnival ride and flung passengers onto the ground at the Ohio State Fair last summer, four state inspectors gave the ride a final look.

In what their boss called a vigorous and lengthy review, the veteran inspectors said they didn’t notice any cracks, rust or blistered paint where the ride later broke apart.

Attorneys for the family of a teenager killed in the accident and four others left with life-changing injuries believe the inspectors missed obvious warning signs and should share in the blame.

But they won’t include the state or its inspectors in any lawsuits or settlements because Ohio, like many other states, gives its ride inspectors immunity from negligence accusations.

The result is most lawsuits target the ride owners and manufacturers but not the government-employed inspectors — a distinction that some attorneys think should raise questions about how much accountability there is for the people inspecting carnival rides.

Philadelphia attorney Jeffrey Reiff, who has handled and consulted cases involving amusement ride accidents, said immunity statutes put state officials above the law.

“We want to believe that ride inspectors are properly doing their jobs and that everything has been carefully inspected,” he said. “Unfortunately this is not the case.”

Immunity from negligence claims means a victim’s attorney would need to prove the inspectors intentionally ignored an obvious problem or meant to cause harm.

“That’s quite a high barrier to show that they were acting maliciously,” said Christopher Robinette, who teaches law at Widener University in Pennsylvania and follows ride safety.

The family of a 16-year-old who died when she was thrown from a ride two years ago at a church festival in El Paso, Texas, filed a lawsuit against the ride’s owner and the church but not the state. Among the claims was that the owner failed to properly inspect the ride. The family’s attorney wouldn’t discuss the details of their case, but he noted the standard of negligence is higher for the state’s inspectors in Texas.

Relatives of a Nebraska girl whose scalp was partially torn off in 2016 when her hair got caught in the spinning ride did include the state’s inspectors in their lawsuit. The state has countered that its inspectors should be exempt from the lawsuit’s claims.

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